


Barrier

by occultclysms



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Boys Kissing, Getting Together, Language Barrier, M/M, Red Bull, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25588786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occultclysms/pseuds/occultclysms
Summary: Mark doesn’t speak Korean. Well, fuck. How is Donghyuck supposed to ask him out now? He can’t use his words, those are useless. But Mark is just staring at Donghyuck, Red Bull in hand looking mildly confused. Without a better option, Donghyuck pulls out his phone and opens Google Translate and hopes for the best. It might butcher his words, but it’s better than nothing.“I want to help you learn Korean,” Donghyuck’s phone says and he crosses his fingers that that made some sort of sense to Mark. Mark smiles at Donghyuck and gives a thumbs up.“That’s great,” Mark replies and Donghyuck doesn’t have the heart to tell him that he doesn’t quite make sense, even though it is relentlessly endearing anyway. “I’ll see you later.”
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 10
Kudos: 97
Collections: The Markhyuck Zine Round One





	Barrier

**Author's Note:**

> italics are english + thanks b for beta-ing

Donghyuck likes Red Bull. Always has, always will. So almost every day(or sometimes several times a day), he’ll stop by the same vending machine and buy one or two cans, much to the distress of his roommate, Jeno.

“Donghyuck, you’re gonna get a heart attack y’know,” Jeno calls from his gaming chair as Donghyuck had quit five minutes ago claiming he needed more caffeine if Jeno was going to keep beating his ass at Street Fighter.

“I love you too, Jeno,” Donghyuck replies, closing the door so he can’t hear Jeno’s response. Leaning against the door for a moment, Donghyuck rests his eyes for five seconds, trying to take a quick power nap before working up the effort to climb down the three flights of stairs down to the basement.

Donghyuck is all ready to spend too much money on caffeine, but there’s someone in front of the vending machine. It’s the same kid that’s been there several other times when Donghyuck has been craving Red Bull. Donghyuck taps his foot impatiently, waiting for the guy to hurry up and get what he wants. The guy turns around and Donghyuck can’t help but notice his features. Soft eyes, glasses, little moles on his cheek and neck, and a confused look in his eyes.

 _“Do you know how to work the vending machine?”_ The kid asks and Donghyuck stares at him. Donghyuck should be able to understand at least half of the words he says because he claims that he has the ability to speak English, but Donghyuck stares blankly right back.

“Uhh, I don’t speak English,” Donghyuck replies. Well, he can assume that the guy needs help with the vending machine because what else would be going on right now. But just to be sure, Donghyuck pulls out his cellphone and opens google translate and types in ‘what do you need help with?’ into the app.

 _“What do you need help with?”_ Donghyuck’s phone asks and the guy’s eyes light up. The guy pulls out his phone and does the same thing.

“The vending machine is stuck,” the phone replies. “Can you please help me?”

“Yeah I got you,” Donghyuck replies, putting his phone away. He gives the stranger a smile and a thumbs up, hoping that gets the point across and goes over to the vending machine, kicks it twice and the stranger’s Red Bull drops into the bottom.

“Thank you. I’m Mark by the way.” Mark holds his hand out for a handshake and Donghyuck shakes his hand, taking Mark in. He’s handsome to say the least, and probably an exchange student judging by the less than perfect Korean skills.

Mark doesn’t speak Korean. Well, fuck. How is Donghyuck supposed to ask him out now? He can’t use his words, those are useless. But Mark is just staring at Donghyuck, Red Bull in hand looking mildly confused. Without a better option, Donghyuck pulls out his phone and opens Google Translate and hopes for the best. It might butcher his words, but it’s better than nothing.

 _“I want to help you learn Korean,”_ Donghyuck’s phone says and he crosses his fingers that that made some sort of sense to Mark. Mark smiles at Donghyuck and gives a thumbs up.

“That’s great,” Mark replies and Donghyuck doesn’t have the heart to tell him that he doesn’t quite make sense, even though it is relentlessly endearing anyway. “I’ll see you later.” Mark waves goodbye and Donghyuck tries to lean up against the vending machine to look cool, but he misses and nearly trips. Mark laughs and Donghyuck resists the urge to run away.

* * *

Sitting in the library isn’t really where Donghyuck wants to be right now but Mark took his request of studying seriously and Donghyuck still really wants to ask Mark out. With his feet swinging underneath his chair, Donghyuck sits, waiting for Mark to return with a book he said he wanted to study.

Donghyuck was serious when he offered to help Mark study, but he kinda hoped it would be more kissing and less actual talking, but now he’s stuck. Mark returns with a novel as thick as Donghyuck’s hand is wide and Donghyuck wants to hit his head on the desk. How on Earth is he going to do this?

 _“So I wanted to start with something that looked interesting, but since I can’t read the titles, I just grabbed the largest one and hoped for the best,”_ Mark says and Donghyuck nods. It takes Mark a moment, but once he sets the book on the table and opens it up, realization dawns on him and he pulls out his phone. “My bad, _I kinda forgot you don’t speak English.”_

“It’s okay,” Donghyuck replies. Hearing the phone talk isn’t the same as Mark’s voice even though Donghyuck can actually understand that better. Mark’s voice is honestly quite nice to listen to, even when Donghyuck doesn’t understand it. Donghyuck opens the book to a random page and is ready to start tutoring, but then he realizes Mark grabbed a scientific textbook. He closes the book and pulls out his phone. _“You grabbed a science textbook. I don’t think this is what you want to start learning from as I don’t even know half of the words in here.”_

Mark flushes and goes to grab the book and put it away, but Donghyuck sticks his hand on the book, keeping it in place. It’s so hard not to just start talking, but Donghyuck actually came semi-prepared for this. Donghyuck pushes the book away and Mark looks confused, and Donghyuck holds up a hand. He reaches down into his bag and pulls out a set of matching cards for kids he bought for the occasion.

One card is the word and it has a matching card with a picture of the object on it. It’s certainly not perfect, but it’s a starting point because Donghyuck has no idea exactly how much knowledge of Korean Mark has. Donghyuck lays all the cards out across the table face down and Mark watches with quiet curiosity. When he’s done, he translates the instructions to Mark.

 _“Basically it's old maid, but with words and pictures instead of playing cards. And I won’t tell you if the word and picture pair actually match each other. You have to know, and if you don’t know a word I will translate it for you.”_ Donghyuck waits for the phone to finish reciting the instructions before looking over at Mark who gives Donghyuck a thumbs up. 

Mark grabs two cards randomly and they are both pictures so he picks up other ones and tries again. This time it’s two words. Third time’s the charm as they say. This time Mark gets a word and a picture.

“Apple?” Mark reads. The picture in hand is a cat, so Donghyuck knows they aren’t the same thing, but the question is, does Mark? “No.”

“Correct. No match,” Donghyuck says. “Go again.” Donghyuck tries to pick smaller words that he knows that Mark should know. Hopefully he’s clear enough. Mark puts the cards down and picks up another two. This time it’s a book and the word book.

“Book!” Mark exclaims and Donghyuck smiles, but he still shushes Mark because they are in a library and Donghyuck can’t afford to be kicked out from here. It’s the best library on campus and he already has two strikes against him. “Uhhh, yes. Correct.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Donghyuck says and Mark smiles really big causing Donghyuck’s heart to flutter a bit. He’s really quite precious, honestly. 

_“Yay,”_ Mark replies and while Donghyuck doesn’t know the exact definition of what Mark said, he feels the sentiment.

“And again.” They go again and again until Mark has matched the whole deck and Donghyuck is proud of Mark. Packing up their things, Mark repeats all the words he’s learned to himself, trying to familiarize himself with them better which is endearing in it’s own right.

“Donghyuck,” Mark says and Donghyuck turns to face him. Mark takes Donghyuck’s hand and leans in close to presses a kiss to Donghyuck’s cheek and Donghyuck blushes. _“Thank you.”_

* * *

“Jeno!” Donghyuck exclaims, practically running into his dorm. “I need your help.” Jeno pulls off his headset and looks at Donghyuck.

“What do you need?” Jeno asks. “I was in the middle of a game.”

“I need your help asking someone out,” Donghyuck says, and Jeno’s head cocks to the side.

“Why do you out of all people need help asking someone out? You’ll flirt with anything that has a pulse,” Jeno points out and Donghyuck must admit that Jeno has a point. “So what’s the catch?”

“He doesn’t speak Korean,” Donghyuck replies slowly. Jeno bursts out laughing and Donghyuck resists the urge to swat at him. He needs Jeno’s help, so he will bite his tongue just this once.

“You could always ask in the language he does speak,” Jeno suggests, tugging his headset back on. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

* * *

Donghyuck is ready to ask Mark out. They’ve been practicing words and now Mark can speak in confident sentences, but he still gets tripped up with certain sounds, but progress is being made. Donghyuck even practiced how to formally ask Mark out in English. 

Jeno is out of the dorm today and Donghyuck is going to meet Mark at a cafe a block away and then ask him back to play video games. Honestly a genius plan in Donghyuck’s mind, except things don’t go according to plan. There’s a knock at the door which is strange because Donghyuck isn’t expecting anyone.

“Coming,” Donghyuck calls, double checking everything in the dorm quickly before opening the door. “Mark?”

“Hi, Donghyuck,” Mark replies, smiling. “May I come in?”

“Yeah, we were going to meet at that cafe though.” 

“Change of plans. Donghyuck, will you go out with me?” Mark asks and Donghyuck’s heart swells. Imagine being beaten to the punch by Mark. Donghyuck is caught off guard and nearly forgets to reply.

“Yes, absolutely,” Donghyuck replies and Mark slings his arms around Donghyuck to and kisses him lightly.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for so long,” Mark says in between kisses. “Take me to your bedroom.” And who is Donghyuck to deny him? He leads Mark back to his bedroom and before Mark can comment on the decor, Donghyuck practically tackles Mark to the bed and pins his wrists down next to his head. Mark still hasn’t perfected lots of the phrases Donghyuck wants to teach him, so Donghyuck has taken to try and learn a few of them in English to lighten Mark’s load.

 _“Please,”_ Mark whines and Donghyuck smiles devilishly, connecting his and Mark’s lips. That might be his absolute favorite word for Mark to say in English: please. There’s just something about the way it sounds coming from Mark that gets Donghyuck going in an unfamiliar but certainly not unwelcome way.

Donghyuck nips at Mark’s lips and Mark moans, letting Donghyuck begin to map his mouth. This isn’t the first time they’ve kissed, but every kiss with Mark feels like Donghyuck’s first because his stomach fills with butterflies upon each touch of lips.

“Donghyuck,” Mark gasps, breaking their kiss apart. “I want to kiss your neck.” The wording isn’t perfect and Mark mispronounces the word kiss, but Donghyuck’s heart still flutters. Donghyuck bares his neck to Mark and Mark bites down, sucking a hickey into Donghyuck’s neck. Mark pulls away to catch his breath and Donghyuck pulls him in for another kiss, letting his tongue explore Mark’s mouth. Mark smiles into the kiss and their teeth clash.

“Mark quit smiling, I want to kiss you,” Donghyuck whispers.

“But I’m too happy to quit smiling,” Mark counters. “Maybe we should cuddle for a bit.” Donghyuck pulls Mark in close and Mark tucks his head under Donghyuck’s chin and Donghyuck feels whole. Mark is so sweet and Donghyuck really thinks that the two of them could be wonderful together. To new beginnings.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on twt im nice i promise  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/carrotyeol)  
> [Curious Cat](https://curiouscat.qa/carrotyeol)


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